An Artifact in Lima
by pleasant-hell
Summary: An artifact is slowly draining the life out of the McKinley High School glee club. It's up to the Warehouse agents to find it and save them.


The prompt was originally a joke by your[.]kat aka i-am-my-silence on tumblr, but it actually turned into a real prompt by ferfermccoy on tumblr.

* * *

_Univille, SD_

_Warehouse 13_

_Modern Greek Sector_

"Yeehaw!" Pete whooped as he skateboarded down the aisle of the Warehouse. Above him Claudia hung from the stationary zip line harness above him, her laptop resting on her knees.

She tapped the comm piece hooked on her ear to open the channel. "Alright take a left turn."

"I love taking inventory!" Pete called, holding a device in his hand that Claudia whipped up. It did in fact used to be lantern, but where the glass was supposed to be, Claudia had placed a handful of micro cameras.

On her computer screen she had a window looking through the cameras, while the program she wrote, picked out the artifacts, found their names and put them into her customized database. "We're almost done. You just need to roll through the ancient Greek sector."

"Sweet," Pete turned to his left and started skating through the menagerie of statues.

"Ah children and their toys," HG smiled, looking across the warehouse from the catwalk attached to Artie's office.

"How are we going to keep them from playing with artifacts now that they're going to finish inventory by the end of the week?" Leena asked, leaning on the rail.

HG smirked, "I don't know." She opened the door to the office and allowed Leena to walk in before her. When she stepped in, she saw Artie sitting behind his keyboard, playing a song no one, but him could hear through his headphones. Myka was sitting at the round table in the corner, books piled all around her.

"You know Claudia offered to categorize those for you," HG grinned as she took a seat next to Myka, whose eyes absorbed every word of every book through her glasses.

Myka finished the sentence she was on and looked up. "Where's the fun in that?" She placed a bookmark between the pages she was previously reading and closed the book. "Besides, I don't think that her system would organize the books properly."

"How is that?" HG gazed over the books and ran her finger over the spines, finally picking one up and looking over the cover.

Myka looked down and stuttered. "I-I've developed my own system. It's a little complicated."

HG opened the book in her hands and smiled over it at Myka, "I'm sure it's brilliant."

"It's not," she croaked at first, but cleared her throat, "It's not-"

She abruptly stopped talking when the door from the warehouse to the office burst open. "We've got a ping!" Claudia walked in, laptop in hand.

"Where is it?" Artie rolled his chair over to his computer and started typing.

Claudia sighed, "Lima, Ohio. Can we not have a mission someplace cool? Like on a beach somewhere?"

Pete trotted in. "We have a mission on a beach?" He unbuckled his helmet and took it off.

"No," Artie shook his head. He swiveled in his chair and looked at Claudia, "And you don't have a mission. You're still doing inventory."

Claudia set her laptop on the desk next to Artie's and pulled up a picture of a building where the ping originated. "All the pings are kids who keep losing large chunks of time and they all go to the same place, William McKinley High School. You need me. They'll talk to me."

"Fine," Artie huffed and turned back to his computer. "Take HG. Myka can't baby-sit you and Pete at the same time."

"Hey!" Pete and Claudia whined at the same time.

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High_

_Auditorium_

"I don't -" Rachel put her hand on her forehead, squinted. She looked around. "How did I- I don't remember walking into the auditorium. I thought we were supposed to be in the choir room."

Quinn checked her phone, "We've been here for three hours?"

"I have six missed calls," Santana frowned.

Everyone looked around at each other, in the same state of confusion.

Mr. Schue clapped his hands. "You were all working very hard." He chuckled, "You know time flies when you're having fun?"

"Does time disappear too?" Brittany asked, taking a step closer to Santana. She took Santana's hand in both of her own. "Because I think it did."

"This is the third time this has happened in a week," Mike offered. He turned to Mr. Schue. "I'm starting to get worried. I know we're working hard but-"

"It's fine," Mr. Schue put his hands up. "I think we'll call it a night, but tomorrow, I expect everyone's A game tomorrow."

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_Breadstix_

_Booth 23_

"Oh my god," Pete mumbled with a mouthful. He shoved the small pail of breadsticks at Myka, "You have to try these. They're amazing."

Myka carefully pushed them back, "I think I'll be okay. Can we please go over the plan?" She crossed her arms and looked around the restaurant.

"It's not really a plan Mykes," he picked up another breadstick and broke it in half. "We're going to the school in a couple hours to talk to these kids. HG and Claudia are going undercover. I talked to the principal of the school. He was a little weird, but he agreed to put HG in as a substitute teacher and Claudia is in a couple classes."

Myka exhaled and sipped her water. "HG has her Tesla right?"

Pete looked his partner over and put the rest of his breadstick in the bucket. He leaned forward and lowered his voice so that Myka knew he was serious. "I know that last time we sent someone undercover it didn't work too well. But Steve is fine. He's still on vacation and as along as that metronome thingy is safe in that box that Artie bronzed, Steve is always going to be okay. And we got HG's back okay? The warehouse is back. This is a sleepy town in Ohio and we're two minutes away from them. They'll be okay."

"I know, I know," Myka sighed. "I just..."

"You haven't told her how you feel yet," Pete leaned back in his seat. He smirked at the looked of surprise and guilt on Myka's face. He chomped off the end of the breadstick, "Oh yeah, I know things."

"Shut up," Myka muttered.

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Hallway_

Helena walked around the school, hopelessly lost. She could navigate the warehouse fine, but when she was trapped between the florescent lights and stark white tiles, she couldn't seem to find the pattern in the room numbers.

And so far she had only seen the principal who she meant last night and he gave her a thumbs up through the glass door of his office. It was going to be hard to stay undercover with such an enthusiastic associate.

Finally she heard some voices and followed them into a room with tables and chairs where a group of adults was sitting around drinking coffee or reading the newspaper. One woman was halfway through an entire rotisserie chicken.

Helena picked out the friendliest looking bunch and walked up to them, "Excuse me, I'm looking for room 118 and I can't seem to find it."

A redhead with large doe eyes smiled at her, "It's right down the hall to the left. If you have a minute for me to finish my breakfast I can walk you down there. We have a few minutes before the kids start arriving."

"Thank you," Helena smiled and surveyed the redhead's breakfast. It seemed that she was cleaning all the grapes before popping them into her mouth.

"Have a seat," a man next to the doe-eyed woman offered, "Welcome to the teacher's lounge."

HG draped her jacket over the back of the seat, but kept her bag in her lap. She had been instructed by the principal not to bring a firearm into the school, but he didn't say no Teslas. Although he'd never heard of one. So keeping her bag, containing her Tesla , close was a must.

"Are you a sub?" the last occupant of the table, a woman eating the entire chicken asked.

"Pardon?" HG asked.

The man next to her with impossibly curly hair smiled at her, "Are you the substitute?"

"Oh," HG chuckled, "Yes. I'm teaching English."

The woman carefully cleaning her grapes piped up, "How appropriate."

"I suppose," Helena nodded. "I'm...Emily by the way." It almost physically hurt her to say that name, but everyone had insisted on her using an alias and using Emily was safe before Emily Lake already had a history that wouldn't have to be fabricated...again.

"I'm Will," the man with the curly hair stated. He took a sip of coffee and straightened his vest.

"Shannon," the woman with the chicken wiped her hand on her shirt and offered her hand for a shake. HG tentatively took her hand and shook it as she was taught some of her first weeks out of the bronze sector.

"Emma," the woman cleaning her grapes said, making no move to shake her hand. She smiled widely though, "Where are you from?"

"Bromley," Helena answered, "Right outside of London." That was the truth, but she couldn't remember where Emily Lake was from and she doubted that her new friend would check up on her place of origin.

Emma closed up her empty grape container and placed it inside her bag, "I've always wanted to go there, but I don't think I could handle being on an airplane that long. All the germs and..." She shuddered.

Helena looked slightly confused and eyed the woman.

"I have OCD," Emma stated, but Helena's look didn't go away so she added, "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. I don't like germs or dirt or disorganization."

"Ah," Helena nodded, finally understanding, "Like Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill." The three teachers all looked at her like she had grown a second head. She stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder, "Nevermind." She turned to Emma. "Shall we?"

Emma nodded and picked up her bag and added to her two friends, "See you at lunch."

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Parking Lot_

"You can do this," Claudia looked at herself in the rearview mirror. "It's just high school. I passed it once... but I never went...I have to...Ugh!" She threw herself back in her seat and whined, "I don't wanna go."

Her Farnsworth buzzed in her bag and she pulled it out. When she opened it she could see Pete and Myka. "How's it going kiddo?" Pete asked.

"Why do I have to go?" Claudia whined. "It's high school. It's...scary. Pete you should go."

"Well as much as my boyish good looks would help, I still look twenty-eight," Pete said into the Farnsworth.

"You're thirty-two," Myka looked at him.

"I know," Pete winked at Claudia, "You'll do fine. We'll be there in a few minutes to start pulling the kids out of class. We got a list from the hospital. Have a great first day honey." Pete crooned.

"Don't forget your lunch," Myka teased over his shoulder as Claudia's Farnsworth went dark.

Claudia slammed her Farnsworth shut and sighed. She could see the other kids in the school filtering in. A few nerds. A kid in a wheelchair. A handful of football players. Two cheerleaders holding hands. Assorted couples.

Finally Claudia sat up in her seat and looked at herself in the mirror. "You are a Warehouse Agent. You can go into a stupid high school." With one last burst of courage, she opened the door and got out of the car, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Room 118_

Claudia walked into the room and plopped down in the back of the room, reverting back to her old ways of sitting the in the back and sulking. She was glad that she was going to have an ally in her first high school class in years. HG was sitting at the teacher's desk in the front of the room, looking over some papers.

Claudia watched as more students filed in. She saw the two cheerleaders that were holding hands from before. They sat one row over from Claudia next to each other, looking utterly exhausted. A guy with a mohawk walked up to them, spoke to them in hushed tones before sitting in front the Latina cheerleader. He yawned and put his head down on the desk.

More people walked in, but Claudia was focused on the very tired looking group of teens in the back of the room. A shaggy haired blonde boy and a pretty blonde girl had joined them.

When the bell rang, Helena stood up. "Hello class. I am Ms. Lake and I will be your substitute today. I shall start off with calling roll."

Claudia perked up because the blonde cheerleader leaned over to the Latina one and whispered, "Her accent is hot. She must be from Alaska or something."

The Latina smiled sleepily at the blonde. "She's British babe."

"Oh," the blonde grinned widely and kissed the brunette's cheek before paying attention to HG.

"Rachel Berry?" Helena asked. the class.

Claudia watched as the pretty blonde turned to the cheerleaders, "Have you guys seen Rachel?"

"Rachel Berry" Helena asked again. Just as she had set the paper down mark the girl absent, a small girl with long brown hair, bangs hanging just above her eyes whirled into the room. She was in an argyle skirt and green sweater, a green headband holding her hair away from her face. She was holding a thermos in her hand as she walked in.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," the girl told HG. "I'm Rachel Berry. I overslept, but don't worry. I brought coffee," she gestured to the thermos, "Ready to learn."

Helena's eyes flickered to Claudia before she asked Rachel to take her seat.

A few other names before Helena called another one of the group Claudia was watching. They seemed a little suspicious to her and seeing as how they were all exhausted and sharing the coffee the Rachel Berry had brought with her, Claudia thought it seemed they were up to something.

"Samuel Evans?" Helena asked.

The shaggy haired blonde boy half-heartedly raised his hand. "I go by Sam."

Then the pretty girl raised her hand when she was called "Quinn Fabray."

Followed by Santana Lopez, the Latina cheerleader, Brittany Pierce, the blonde cheerleader and Noah Puckerman, the boy with the mohawk.

"And a new student," Helena's eyes rested on Claudia. "Claudia Donovan."

Claudia raised her hand. "Hey, hi how's it going?"

"You look a little old to be in high school," Noah Puckerman eyed Claudia up and down.

Claudia scrunched up her nose, "So do you. How old are you? 30?"

He huffed and put his head back on the desk.

The blonde cheerleader smiled at her, "Don't worry about him. He's just cranky."

Claudia smiled back. "Thanks."

"Alright," Helena stepped in front of the class. "I see that you are in the middle of 19th century literature. Anyone have any 19th century favorites?" Claudia could tell Helena was nervous, but she was trying.

The blonde cheerleader raised her hand.

Helena pointed to her, "Yes, Ms. Pierce."

"Bleak House," the girl put her hand down.

Claudia blinked. This was the same girl that just asked is Helena was from Alaska.

"Anyone else?" Helena looked around.

Claudia smirked, "I liked that book about the aliens that came to earth and made a time machine or whatever. There was an invisible man."

Helena rolled her eyes, knowing that Claudia was haphazardly smashing together all of her books on purpose. There was no way for any of the other children in class to know that.

"Oh! Wasn't that Hot Tub Time Machine?" one guy in the front said.

Sam Evans looked back at her, "Hunt for Red October?"

"War of the Worlds," Quinn stated.

"That movie was awesome!" some kid across the room shouted

"Movie?" HG asked. Her eyes automatically went to Claudia who was usually her go to for pop culture.

Claudia fidgeted in her seat. If HG was a little ribbed when Claudia mashed up her books, she's be livid about how badly Tom Cruz butchered her War of the Worlds. "I'll um..."

Before she could answer a familiar face appeared in the doorway. Myka looked at a piece of paper, "I need to talk to Santana Lopez."

All eyes landed on the Latina cheerleader. She made a show of huffing and rolling her eyes. She found the blonde cheerleader's eyes and shrugged. "I'll be right back." With that she brushed past Myka out the door.

Myka glanced at HG, giving her a once over to make sure she's still alive. With one last nod, she slipped out of the room.

Pete walked in with less subtly than Myka. He interrupted Helena mid-sentence and said, referencing a piece of paper, "I need to talk to a Noah Puckerman."

Again everyone looked at him. He looked at Pete for a second before shooting out of his desk and ran to the window. Puck looked for a latch around the frame of the window with his hands and started banging on the glass, "Why won't this open?"

"Hey, hey, hey," Pete ran over to him and pulled him away from the window. "I just wanna ask you some questions man."

"Questions about a lamp post?" Noah looked down and put his hands in his pockets.

Pete looked over at Helena who shrugged. Pete looked back at him. "No, just come with me."

Puck walked out the door with Pete and Helena closed the door. She smiled at the class and took a deep breath, "Okay, back to class."

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Room 134_

"What is this about?" Santana sat on the desk with her arms crossed. "I haven't done anything illegal in like a week."

Myka slipped her hands into her back pockets. "It's not about anything you did. Have you noticed anything new? Around your house or the school? Something that looks old?"

Santana just tilted her head and looked at Myka like she was stupid. "What are you talking about?"

Myka sighed and leaned back on the teacher's desk in the empty classroom. "Never mind." She looked up at the ceiling and then back at the girl, "When did you start getting tired?"

"How do you know about that?" Santana frowned.

"I'm from the CDC," Myka sat down on the desk and looked the cheerleader over. She was looking for anything that might be out of place on the girl. A charm or amulet. So far she looked fairly normal.

Santana tilted her head to the side. "Last week. Tuesday I think."

When she tilted her head, Myka noticed something hiding under Santana's make-up. "What's that?" She pointed to her own neck indicating that Santana explain the dark spot at the base of her neck.

Santana reached up on her neck and her fingers immediately found the place on her neck. "It's a hickey."

Myka stood up and took a step closer taking this as another piece to the puzzle, "So do you have a new boyfriend?"

Santana frowned. "No. I have a _girlfriend_. And I've been with her for eight months." She looked down at her nails scratching at the top of one with another.

Myka cleared her throat. "Oh um, okay. Well has anything else happened? Besides being tired?"

"Yeah," Santana looked up from her nails. She paused, debating on whether or not to trust this woman. Finally with a sigh she answered, "I keep... losing time. Like one minute I'm walking into the choir room and then next I'm in the auditorium and it's three hours later."

"Has this been happening to anyone else?" Myka asked, "Have you told anyone?"

"I haven't told anyone," Santana stood up. She lowered her voice as she got closer to Myka, "And Brittany with _not_ find out, understood? She's already stressed about graduation. She doesn't need to worry about me too."

Myka tried to fight a smile. Here this girl was threatening her, but the reason was adorable.

Santana saw this. She rolled her eyes and let her head lull back, "Will I never be feared again?"

Myka walked with Santana to the door of the empty classroom. "Thank you for your time. I'd like to talk to you at a later time to see if your symptoms have progressed at all. Can you meet me at about three o'clock?"

"Yeah," Santana nodded. "The cafeteria will be empty."

"Great," Myka said, "Bring your girlfriend too. Maybe she notices some things that you might not."

"Story of my life," Santana turned on her heel and walked back to her class.

Myka heard her cell phone going off and grabbed it out of her pocket stepping back into the classroom. "Bering."

"Hey," Pete's voice crossed the line. "The kid with the mohawk said that his fatigue started last week. He didn't know what day, but he also said that he's been blacking out like he just left a Pi Kap party."

"What does that mean?" Myka looked around the classroom.

"What did you do in college?" Pete asked.

Myka smirked, "I studied."

"Nerd," Pete teased. There was some shuffling on his end of the line, "I'm going to get Brittany Pierce next. I think we should keep picking them out of HG's class so no one else catches wind of us."

"Ok," Myka took her list out and marked off, Santana Lopez, Noah Puckerman and Brittany Pierce. "I'll get Rachel Berry. Do me a favor and don't bring up the blacking out to Brittany. And ask her if she's noticed anything different about Santana."

"Gotcha," Pete replied. "Seacrest out."

Myka put her phone in her pocket and folded up the list in her hand. She walked confidently down the hallway and stopped at the door to room 118. Helena was standing at the board, writing something. For a moment, Myka's breath caught in her throat. She felt like no air was able to get in or out of her body. For a moment, she wasn't seeing Helena G Wells. She was seeing Emily Lake. She was seeing an American whose most significant literature she'd written was her class syllabus.

However when Helena caught her eyes through the glass of the window inside the door and immediate recognition washed over her face. She gave Myka a knowing smile before looking back at the board.

She let out a sigh of relief ad opened the door. Myka stepped into the classroom and moved over to HG. Maybe just to hear her accent, make sure that she was still who she was supposed to be.

Helena met her halfway and turned her head so that Myka could whisper in her ear and the class couldn't see.

"Everything ok so far?" Myka asked.

HG pulled away with a smile and a nod.

Myka nodded back. That wasn't the accent she was hoping for, but in HG's eyes, she could see that it was her. She was who she was supposed to be.

"I need Rachel Berry."

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_McKinley High School_

_Room 118_

"What are you doing?" the mohawked boy looked over at Claudia's notebook.

She lifted her pen to examine her work. The page was filled with zeroes and ones. "I'm taking notes in binary. Keeps it interesting." She didn't add that she had heard this lecture before when HG and Myka were talking about books for the millionth time. Like they do anything else.

"Awesome," Puck looked from her paper to her. He zeroed in on her guitar pick necklace and nodded toward it. "Do you play guitar?"

"Yeah," she nodded. She looked over her notes one last time. All the zeroes and ones were actually observations she had made about the tired group of kids sitting by her. Not that anyone in this zip code could understand it but her.

"Maybe you wanna come by glee club after school," he offered sitting back up in his seat. "It sounds stupid, but it's really fun and we could use some more badass."

Claudia smiled. No one really called her badass. "Sure."

"We meet in the choir room," he smiled what he hope was a charming smirk, "I'll see you there."

* * *

_Lima, Oh_

_William McKinley High School_

_Parking Lot_

"So what do we know?" Artie asked over the Farnsworth.

"Did you know dolphins are just gay sharks?" Pete asked, standing at the hood of the car with his hands on his hips.

Myka and Claudia looked questioningly at Pete.

He shook his head. "I spent a lot of time with the blonde cheerleader. Now I feel like the world is a good place and my head if full of glitter."

"Do any artifacts do that?" Myka asked Artie while she turned the pages of her notes.

"No," Artie simply stated. "What do you know about the kids?"

Claudia looked at her notes. "They're all friends. The tired ones. Even the small one that everyone pretends not to like. The cheerleaders spend most weekends and evenings secluded so they can get their mack on. Surfer boy with the big mouth used to be a stripper. The mohawked man-child runs a pool cleaning business and asked me to join the glee club."

Myka adjusted her sunglasses and leaned on the car. "Apart from that, none of the kids have noticed anything different. Pete and I swept most of the school. There are no artifacts in plain sight. It's either really small or hidden really well."

"Keep looking," Artie said, "Go check in with HG. Maybe she's heard something from the teachers."

"Over and out," Pete stated before closing the Farnsworth. She looked at Myka and Claudia. "I'm gonna go grab something to eat." He pointed to Myka, "You should go check in with HG." Then he pointed to Claudia, "You go have lunch with your new friends."

"What if it's contagious?" Claudia asked holding onto the shoulder strap of her messenger bag..

"The rest of the school would be infected by now if they were," Myka explained, patting Claudia's shoulder reassuringly. She opened the car and got out her bag. "I'm gonna go talk to some teachers."

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_McKinley High School_

_Teacher's Lounge_

Myka easily stepped into the small teacher's lounge and looked around. Helena was sitting with a trio of teachers at a table by the window. She didn't want to stare or let anyone know that she and Helena were acquainted, so she forcefully averted her eyes and walked to the vending machine. She bought a bag a trail mix and an orange juice before feigning the struggle to find somewhere to sit.

"Is this seat open?" Myka asked, when she made it to the table where Helena was.

"Yup," Shannon gestured to the chair with her elbow, busy eating her second chicken.

"You're from the CDC right?" Emma asked Myka with a broad smile.

Myka nodded. "Yes." She opened her trail mix and slid her hand into the bag. She extracted a peanut. "Has anyone else been getting sick?"

"They're sick?" Emma's eyes grew impossibly wider and she looked at Will alarmed.

Will shook his head, "They're not sick. They're all just really tired. We've been practicing for nationals. They put in long hours and most of the time they don't wanna leave until I make them." He chuckled and turned back to his sandwich.

"Well, I'd rather be safe than sorry," Myka studied Will for a moment before turning to the Coach. "How's your chicken?"

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Cafeteria_

"Oh crap," Claudia looked down at her tray of food. She opted for the hamburger, chocolate milk, and pudding cup. She wasn't sure what she would like now because what she usually ate was fast food or Leena's amazing cooking. She was even more nervous when she looked up at the crowded cafeteria. Everyone had a group of friends they were sitting with. The already established groups were intimidating.

She exhaled and started making her way to the only empty table in the cafeteria.

As she was trying to grab her Farnsworth out of her bag to see if she could eat lunch with Pete she ran into someone. Barely managing to keep from spilling her food, Claudia looked up, "I'm so sorry."

"It's totally okay," the blonde cheerleader from her English class smiled. Claudia took in the dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. "Do you wanna come sit with us?"

"Um, sure," Claudia shrugged. She didn't really have much of a choice.

She followed Brittany to the table where some of the kids from the English class were sitting. Brittany sat next to Santana and Claudia slid into a spot next to a boy in a wheelchair.

"You guys this is Claudia," Brittany announced. "She's new and Puck got her to come to glee today."

"Awesome," the wheelchair boy smiled, "I'm Artie."

"Claudia," she shook his hand. Just what she needed. Another Artie.

"Where ya from?" a tall boy sitting between Puck and Rachel asked.

Claudia opened her chocolate milk, "South Dakota."

"Oh," the boy fumbled after that. South Dakota wasn't really a great conversion started, "It must be...cold there."

"It goes cold sometimes," Claudia shrugged.

A lull fell over them as everyone silently ate.

"So," Claudia ventured, "How about those blackouts?"

All chatter at the table stopped and all eyes fell on Claudia.

"What are you talking about?" Santana asked, her eyes flickering from Brittany to Claudia.

"Word around the water cooler is that you guys have been losing time," Claudia sipped her milk before taking a bite out of her hamburger.

Rachel leaned forward, "How did you know that?"

"You mean it's happening to you too?" Quinn asked the smaller girl across the table.

"Like you black out and don't remember hours at a time?" Tina asked.

Everyone seemed to reach the same conclusion at the same time.

"I haven't remembered glee club for the past week," Mike sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

A chorus of 'me either' rose from the group.

"It seems to me that your problems are started with the glee club," Claudia offered. "Is there anything new where you practice?"

"Not really," Quinn shook her head. "We've just been practicing for Nationals. Mr. Schue keeps telling us that it's just stress."

Claudia frowned. "Who is Mr. Schue?"

"He's our director," Rachel stated. "You'll meet him this afternoon. He also teaches History."

"I think I'll just watch for a while," Claudia offered. "I mean, it seems like a lot of stress if it's making you guys this tired."

Rachel beamed at her, "I'm sure our hard work and heartfelt performances will change your mind."

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Room 118_

"Thank you for walking me back to my class Agent Bering," HG offered with a smile as she rounded her desk.

Myka took a deep breath, not venturing into the room. She leaned on the doorframe with her arms crossed. She looked Helena over and then dipped her head down when she was caught. She didn't notice HG's affectionate smile so she took a deep breath and pushed her hair away from her face. "Agent Bering? How formal of you."

"There was a janitor behind you," HG smiled, "We're not suppose to know each other. Which is difficult when you look at me like that."

"Like what?" Myka's smile faded and her eyes grew wide. A rosy tint surfaced on her face.

Helena chuckled sadly at the reaction and looked down at her desk. "Like you...know me. Of course you do. Better than anyone."

"Helena, I-" Myka took a step forward and then stopped herself. She blinked slowly and looked down. Chickening out once again, she sighed, "I'm gonna go check in with Pete. Call me if you need anything."

HG nodded. "Cheers."

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Parking Lot_

Pete looked up at as Myka walked over to him. "Hey are you okay? You seem distracted."

Myka shook her head, "Yeah, I'm... I mean...Fine, I'm fine."

Pete let out a wide grin and playfully punched Myka's shoulder. "You got girl problems."

"This is just like high school except that the hunky football player is a brilliant British author," Myka huffed and leaned back against the car.

"And instead of a seventeen year old boy, she's a hundred and fifty," Pete offered.

"That is not the problem here," Myka punched Pete in the chest. "Anyway, we have to figure out what's hurting these kids. I say we search the choir room and then the auditorium. It has to be something where this certain group of kids meets. Something we missed."

"And then we can take care of your grade school crush," Pete slipped on his sunglasses and started walking inside.

Myka scrambled to catch up with him, "It's a not a grade school crush."

* * *

_Lima OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Room 106_

Claudia wasn't listening to the teacher. One she didn't have to and two, she learned ten times this much history with a single walk down ten feet of a warehouse aisle.

"And that was the beginning of the first world war," the curly haired teacher said, straightening out his vest. "Questions?"

Claudia looked down at the sketch that she was doing of the B&B. She decided that Leena probably wouldn't let her put a huge satellite dish on the front lawn, but a girl could dream. Being able to use it to hack into international satellites and use them to find people or buildings. Maybe even artifacts themselves.

Just as a euphoric nerd smile made it's way onto Claudia's face, a commotion pulled her out of her thoughts. There was a rush of bodies moving around, but she managed to make out that one of the cheerleaders was passed out on the floor.

Claudia pulled out her phone and dialed. "Uh, Myka, we have a problem."

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Nurse's Office_

"It seems like she's just sleeping, but she won't wake up," the nurse told Myka and Pete as they stood right outside the curtained area. The blonde cheerleader was laying unconscious across the table. The brunette cheerleader was sitting next to her, holding her hand.

She looked up at the adult in the room. "My dad's on his way. He's a doctor." She wiped the tears from her face and sniffled. "She's gonna be ok right? Whatever is doing this can be fixed?"

Pete and Myka looked at each other, silently conferring about what they were going to say. Finally Pete nodded, "Yeah and we'll find it."

Santana turned back to the motionless Brittany and held up one of the blonde's lifeless hands. With it safely secured in both of her trembling hands, she placed a series of gentle kisses along the knuckles. "It'll be okay Brit-Brit. I promise."

Myka and Pete stepped out into the hallway and looked at each other. "What do we do?" Myka asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I don't-" Pete started but the bell interrupted him. Soon a flood of teenagers washed out into the hallway leaving for the day. He pulled Myka to the side and looked at her. "I don't know. But we have to act fast because they might all start dropping out like that."

"Whatever they're doing, we have to stop it," Myka jerked her head down the hallway. "You check the choir room and I'll go to the auditorium."

"What do we do when we get there?" Pete asked.

"Just see if there's anything weird," Myka told him.

* * *

_Lima OH_

_William McKinley High School_

_Auditorium_

Myka pulled open the door to the back of the auditorium and walked down the first steps. On the stage about a dozen kids were dancing in sync to the director's counts.

"Myka," her name was whispered loudly.

Her head whipped to the left where she saw Claudia crouched in the middle of an aisle of seats. Claudia motioned for Myka to get down so the agent did so, ducking and moving toward Claudia.

"One of the guys asked me to join the glee club, but the director told me that I couldn't join until after nationals," Claudia whispered. "I asked if I could just watch and he freaked out."

"Do you think he has something to do with it?" Myka asked.

Claudia shrugged and looked back, "So far it looks normal. They're just practicing."

Suddenly a commotion rumbled from the side of the stage. The blonde cheerleader who was passed out only moments earlier was walking onto the stage from behind the legs of the stage. Her moves were rigid and her eyes were straight ahead, as Santana hopped around her, calling her name and trying to get her attention. "Brittany, what are you doing? Brittany?"

"Santana," the director snapped.

For a moment, Santana froze while Brittany slipped into her place in the choreography. Then without another word, Santana walked across the stage and started doing the choreography.

"It's him!" Claudia hissed.

"But what is he using," Myka narrowed her eyes at him. "Claude! Look at his hand."

Claudia zeroed in on his hand and saw what looked like a small rectangular stone. "What is it?"

"It doesn't matter," Myka stood up and pulled out her Tesla. "Stay here and call Pete and HG." She trotted down the aisle until the director heard her and whirled around. Just like that, all the dancing stopped and the kids stood still behind him before all at once lurching forward.

"Have we been...dancing?" Mike asked.

Brittany faltered, but Santana was quick to her side, holding her up. She slowly lowered Brittany to the ground. "What's happening?"

"Whatever you're doing," Myka said as she pointed her Tesla at Will. "It's hurting them."

"They're just a little tired," he shook his head, his fist clenching around what was in his hand.

"You're sucking the life out of them," a very British voice said from the side of the stage. Helena walked onto the stage with a book in her hand. "What you have is the Ring of Cheops. A ruthless pharaoh, Khufu, owned it. He used it to control his people for the building of his pyramids. But it sucked the life out of them. Most of them died during construction because the ring killed them."

"That's not what's going on here," Will stated, clenched teeth.

Suddenly, Helena went rigid, the book in her hand slamming to the floor. She started moving toward Will with the same rigid walk, the cheerleader used earlier.

"Helena!" Myka yelled. She squeezed the trigger on her Tesla, but yelled again when she saw HG break out into a run and jump in front of Will, absorbing the shock. "Helena! No!" It was too late. Her body fell limply to the ground at his feet.

Will clenched his fist and looked up at Myka.

"Drop it!" Pete yelled, right as Myka's body succumbed to rigidity and her Tesla clamored to the ground.

Seeing that he was outnumber by agents that he couldn't all control at once, he turned to the kids. As he gazed upon them, they all stood at attention except for Brittany who had collapsed again and remained on the ground. They all moved as one toward Pete.

"Oh crap," he muttered. All he had was his gun. His real gun with real bullets. He couldn't shoot these kids.

"They're zombies," Claudia whispered to herself. "They're zombies." She took a deep breath. "Alright Claudia, you've been preparing for this your whole life, but I can't kill these zombies." She scanned the room quickly and spotted Myka regaining her bearing with her Tesla at her feet.

"Myka watch out!" Claudia yelled, seeing her mohawked friend jogging toward Myka.

The Secret Service agent scooped up the Tesla and easily took down the teen. Then she spotted her partner running around the auditorium being chased by a group of kids, much younger than him. Then she saw Helena laying on the stage right at Will's feet. A maniacal smile on the man's face as he watched the kids run down Pete was enough to give Myka pause.

Claudia was still crouched in her place high in the auditorium as she watched, trying to figure out what to do. Finally she decided to try to sneak up behind the man and snatch the artifact away. She stood up and turned right into a pretty blonde girl. "Um, hi?"

The girl grabbed Claudia by her jacket lapel and dragged her down the rows of chairs and into the aisle. Claudia tried to pull away, but the blonde in the sundress was deceptively strong.

"Myka!" Pete yelled. He had managed to climb up a light rail that ran up one wall of the auditorium. He held onto it as he kicked at the hands grabbing for his ankle.

"Working on it," Myka yelled back. She sprinted for the stage and planted her hand on the edge of the stage, using it to pivot as she hurdled onto the stage, sliding on her side past the evil director. As she was sliding she pointed her Tesla at him and pulled the trigger.

Her heart sank when her felt heard the click of an uncharged Tesla as she slid to a stop. "That would have been so badass." She hopped up and abandoned her Tesla on the floor between the unconscious cheerleader and the stunned HG.

Claudia managed to shed her jacket, leaving the blonde girl named Quinn holding it in the aisle as she started to off. However Quinn's fingers locked around Claudia's wrist right before she was out of reach. "Why are you so strong?" Claudia whined as she was being pulled to the stage again.

Pete looked up at the light bar, trying to figure out how he was going to get up higher when he felt a strong hand latch onto his ankle. When he looked down, he saw the blank face of the Asian boy looking up at him, trying to pull him down.

Pete shook his foot trying to make the boy lose his grip, but he just felt himself losing his grip on the rungs under his fingers. Then suddenly, the hand went limp. The eyes of the Asian boy slid shut and he collapsed on the ground at the feet of his friends.

Pete scrambled up the bar as high as he could get and surveyed the auditorium. The Asian boy and the blonde cheerleader weren't the only ones collapsed. A boy in a wheelchair was at the base of the stage, slumped over in his chair. The brunette cheerleader was laying across the stairs that ascended to the stage.

Then he saw Myka trying to quietly sneak up on the evil director. Pete yelled at him, "You're killing them!" When the director's black eyes whipped up to him, Pete looked away, hoping that avoiding eye contract would help him not be taken over. He continued yelling because he wanted to distract Schuster from the light footsteps of his approaching partner. "You're going to kill them! They're just kids!"

"They're better now," Will growled, black veins crossing over his face as the power of the artifact invaded his body.

"You're not themselves!" Pete yelled.

Myka was finally close enough to the man and tackled him to the ground. The artifact clattered to the ground and slid off of the stage as they both tumbled to the ground. Myka landed a solid punch to Will's jaw before she felt herself behind pulled off of him by a boy much taller than her.

"Stop!" Myka yelled trying to fight off the boy as Will started running toward the edge of the stage to get the artifact. She elbowed him in to stomach and he hunched over, but still held tight to her.

"Myka!" Pete yelled as he was finally pulled down from the light pole.

Claudia was shoved up the stairs to the stage, her arms pinned to her side by a microphone cord, Quinn holding onto the end of it.

As she was fighting, Myka saw Helena whirl past her and knock Will away from the edge of the stage before he could hop down and grab the artifact. A blonde boy broke away from the group that was tying Pete up and ran toward the stage, hopping up and running toward Helena.

"Helena!" Myka yelled and kicked up off of the ground, trying to get away from the giant boy. "Watch out!"

Helena looked up just in time to see Sam running at her. She ducked and swept her leg out, taking the boy's feet out from under him. "I'm sorry," she threw over her shoulder as Will was hopping off of the stage.

As he bent down to sweep up the artifact, Helena slid off of the stage, landing in front of him, her feet on either side of the artifact. She kneed him in the nose and looked down. She swept up the artifact, but the second she stood up, two hand wrapped around her throat.

"Why didn't it stop?" Claudia yelled. "He doesn't have the artifact anymore."

"He's been controlling them for so long, he's still in their heads!" Myka tried desperately to get way from Finn. She could see Will bending Helena over backwards across the edge of the stage, choking the life out of her. "Helena!"

Myka heard the sound of a Tesla going off and the boy's arms go limp around her with the thud of his large body hitting the stage. She didn't waste time to look back at who had Tesla-ed him. She ran to the edge of the stage. Sam tried to grab her, but she ducked, sliding across the stage and off of it right next to Helena and Will. As her feet touched the floor, her fist connected with Will's face once again and he stumbled backwards.

Helena gasped as the hands around her throat disappeared and she bent over trying to catch her breath.

"The artifact!" Claudia yelled.

Myka stopped herself from going after Will to beat the living hell out of him to pull an artifact bag out of the inside pocket of her jacket. She held it open so that Helena could throw the ring in and they both looked away as a flash of light filled the room.

There was a thud as Pete fell to the ground because all of the kids that were carrying him woke up and dropped him.

Quinn shook her head, looking around. Then she saw that she was holding a microphone chord that was wrapped around the new girl. "What's - what's going on?'

"Um," Claudia looked at Quinn and quickly added, "I got tangled up in the cords and you were just helping me out."

"How did you manage that?" Quinn asked, moving to untie Claudia.

Pete hopped up and looked at all the kids around him. Some of the had fallen unconscious to the floor while others were just trying to piece together what had happened.

Puck sat up in the middle of the aisle, "Was I drinking again in Spanish class?" He held his head as he laid back down.

"Santana," a groan from the back of the stage sounded.

All eyes moved to the blonde cheerleader struggling to push herself up, Tesla in hand. Quinn abandoned Claudia to kneel down next to Brittany.

Pete looked down at the brunette cheerleader still laying across the gentle stairs leading down the side of the stage. He walked over to her and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He took careful steps, carrying her over to the Brittany and laid her down right next to her girlfriend as the rest of the club watched or tended to their unconscious friends.

Brittany barely opened her eyes, but when she saw Santana laying next to her, she rolled onto her side and pulled Santana's limp body towards hers. Claudia knelt down and took the Tesla from the blonde and watched as Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana and rested their foreheads together before slipping into unconsciousness.

As they stood watching the two cheerleaders embrace, Myka looked over at HG. She could see the red finger marks around Helena's throat and her chest tightened. Her eyes traveled down to the Brit's hand hanging, unmoving at her side.

Helena felt fingertips brush against her palm before sliding between her fingers. Her head swiveled to look at Myka who was now firmly holding her hand. She let out a tentative smile and as Myka smiled nervously back.

* * *

_Lima, OH_

_Lima Memorial Hospital_

_Room 347_

Helena stood at the doorway of the large hospital room where the most severely affected glee kids were recovering. She could see that the two cheerleaders' beds had been pushed together and they were laying in the middle watching a movie on a laptop, Brittany with her head on Santana's shoulder.

Tina was sitting between Mike and Artie's bed and Puck was in a bed across the room talking to Quinn and Rachel.

When she felt a hand slide across her back, Helena looked over her shoulder and saw Myka stand next to her. The hand that was on her back, stayed there, resting just above the top of her pants. She smiled at Myka, "You did well."

Myka didn't smile just yet. She was examining the marks across HG's neck. "Not well enough."

"You can't always protect everyone Myka," Helena stated. "And I'm fine. I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere."

* * *

_Univille, SD_

_Leena's Bed & Breakfast_

_Living Room_

"So that Schuester guy?" Pete threw a ball up in the air and caught it, "Where is he?"

"Federal prison," Artie said as he walked in the room with a plate of cookies, "The artifact is too engrained in him to leave him out with the public." He walked around the room and offered everyone a cookie. Everyone took one except Myka.

"Good news though," Pete pulled a card out of his pocket and flicked it, "I got Ms. Pillsbury's number."

"You've been mopey since we got back from Ohio," Claudia nudged Myka who was sitting next to her in the middle of the couch, "What's up?"

Myka cleared her throat. "I'm fine."

"No you're not," Helena broke her cookie in half and offered half of it to Myka. Myka started to shake her head, but Helena left her hand out, "You're going to take this cookie and eat it if we have to sit here all night."

Myka finally broke a smile and took the half of a cookie.

Claudia found Pete and Leena's eyes and they all shared a knowing smile, Pete cracking an invisible whip.

Soon everyone took off for bed, the flight back having drained them.

Helena had just changed out of her street clothes, into some light blue pajama pants and a tank top when there was a soft knock on the door. "C'min," she called having just sat on her bed and picked up a book.

The door slowly opened and Myka slipped in, still in her clothes from earlier.

"Are you alright?" HG asked, seeing the look of intense concentration on her friend's face.

Myka closed the door behind her and threaded her fingers together in front of herself. "I um, there's something I have to tell you."

Helena patiently waited for Myka to speak, placing her book back on the nightstand. Myka shifted her weight from one foot to the other, trying to find the words that she had been rehearsing in her room for the past ten minutes.

"Myka?" HG stood up and took a few tentative steps toward Myka, "It's alright."

Myka's eyes that had been scanning the floor moved to HG's eyes. "I'm sorry. I had this whole thing planned out."

Helena smiled softly, "You don't have to plan anything."

"If I don't plan it then I won't remember everything I wanted to say," Myka was getting frustrated with herself. For years she wanted to tell Helena how she felt and even after watching her die once and almost die a second time, she couldn't spit it out.

"Then take your time darling," Helena took Myka's hand and pulled her to the bed so they could both sit down.

Myka Bering had a vast vocabulary, but she couldn't seem to spit out even the simplest of words. Finally, after Helena had chuckled at her for being so hesitant and nervous, she said, "I have feelings for you, Helena." Myka licked her lips, "Our jobs are dangerous and I can't go one more mission - one more day - without telling you that I love you and that I'm in love with you. I was, even when everyone was convinced you were a criminal. Even when we had each other at gunpoint." Myka reached forward and held Helena's cheek in her hand. "I love you."

HG smiled broadly at this, "I'm glad because I am in love with you as well. For quite some time now."

Myka eyed Helena's lips before finally taking the plunge and kissing her.

When Myka broke the kiss she initiated she was breathless. She smiled as HG pulled her into a hug. "Can I take you out tomorrow night? On a date?"

"I thought you'd never ask," HG chuckled and pulled away.

* * *

_Univille, SD_

_Leena's Bed & Breakfast_

_The hallway outside of HG's room_

Pete did a fist pump as soon as he heard the words come out of his partner's mouth. Claudia quietly squealed and hugged Leena, while Artie dug his wallet out of his pocket.

"They couldn't have waited one more day?" Artie mumbled, fishing a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket and handing it to Pete.


End file.
